Page:History of the French in India.djvu/210

 188 THE FIRST STRUGGLE IN THE KARNATIK. CHAPTER V. THE FIRST STRUGGLE IN THE KARNATIK. chap. The mode in which Dupleix had purchased the consent — ' of the Nawwab of the Karnatik to the prosecution of 1746. hi s plans against Madras has been already related. With one great end in view — that of wresting Madras from the English — he had, during a crisis which might otherwise have been fatal, sacrificed the less important portion of the scheme, and, renouncing extension of territory for his own countrymen, had promised the Nawwab to resign to him the conquests he should achieve. We have given our reasons why we believe Dupleix to have been sincere when he made this en- gagement. In his letter on the subject to La Bour- donnais — a letter intended for no other eye — he had ex- pressed his intention to resign the town to the Nawwab after demolishing its fortifications, and he had used this as a reason why it would be impossible for him to agree to any terms regarding ransom with the English. We have seen how the obstinacy of La Bourdonnais had for a long time prevented the accomplishment of these de- signs — how, from the date of the capitulation, the 21st of September, to his departure from Madras on the 2 3rd of October, that impetuous and self-willed officer had kept Madras in his own hands, and how, therefore, during that time, and for a week subsequently, the entire attention of Dupleix had been devoted to obtaining pos- session of the place, which had been conquered only to be kept from him. We have seen too how fatal the delay had been to him in one respect — in the destruction of the fleet which had been at once his mainstay for defence